The Sexuality of Sex Workers: Sexual Arousability and the Sexual Profile of Women Engaged in Prostitution in Serbia.

BACKGROUND: In a view of sex work being a sexual behavioural activity, the main objective of our research was to explore the sexuality of sex workers in Serbia regarding to intensity of their sexual arousability. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The research was conducted on 30 sex workers and 30 controls of randomly selected social and demographic characteristics, without any signs of psychiatric morbidity. For the evaluation of the intensity of sexual arousability, SAI (Sexual Arousability Index) questionnaire was used. RESULTS: The analysis of the main total scores of the SAI for the sex workers and control participants showed no statistically significant difference in the overall intensity of arousability (p>0.05). However, item by item analysis of the questionnaire showed qualitative difference in sexuality between sex workers and controls, related to certain aspects of sexuality. CONCLUSIONS: These findings allow the space for further research in the way of identifying origins of qualitative issues in the sexual profile of sex workers, in correlation to women who are not sex workers, i.e. whether they had been result of potential biological, specific psychodynamic factors, or have been formed as a result of the direct influence of the sex work.

[Professional stress in general practitioners and psychiatrists--the level of psycologic distress and burnout risk].

BACKGROUND/AIM: So far, studies of stress have shown that physicians are at a high risk of sickness from psychic and somatic disorders related to professional stress, that can lead to important disturbance of personal, familiar and professional functionating. The aim of this study was to investigate the doctors exposition level to professional stress, to compare stress level in general practitioners (GP) group with that in the group of psychiatrists and risk level for the apperance of burnout syndrome. METHODS: This cross-section study included subjects recruited by a random sample method. Thirty General Practice doctors and 30 psychiatrists (totally 60 doctors) filled the set of 3 questionnaires: Sociodemographics features, General Health Questionnaire (GHQ; Goldberg D, 1991), and Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI; Maslach C, 1996). Appropriate statistical procedures (Pearson test, t-test, variance analysis) in interpretation of the results were used. RESULTS: A total level of psychic distress measured with the GHQ test in both groups of physicians was very low implying their good mental health. A difference in Burnout risk based on MBI test between the groups was statistically significant (chi2 = 4,286; p < 0.05) only at subscale Personal Accomplishment (MBI-PA); it was a consequence of a higher number of GPs with medium burnout risk (13.3 : 0.0%). However, even 35 physicians from the sample were affected with a high burnout risk measured with subscales Emotional Ehausation (MBI-EE) and MBI-DP, showing that both groups of physicians had risk for the appearance of burnout syndrome. CONCLUSION: The obtained results showed a high burnout risk level in both, GPs and psychiatrists, groups. In both groups there was no presence of psychic disorders (anxiety, depression, insomnia), while there was a high level of emotional ehausation and overtension by job, and also a lower total personal accomplishment. Level of exposition to professional stress is higher in GPs than in psychiatrists, but the difference was not statistically significant.

Prenatal stress during the 1999 bombing associated with lower birth weight-a study of 3,815 births from Belgrade.

During the 3-month bombing of Serbia (March 24-June 9, 1999), the entire population, including pregnant females as an especially vulnerable group, was exposed to a high degree of stress. This is the first study to explore the effects of prenatal stress during the 1999 bombing of Belgrade on the main obstetric characteristics of newborns. The design of the study was retrospective cross-sectional. The total number of birth records in the sample was 3,815, namely, 1,198 from the group exposed to prenatal stress and 1,251 and 1,366 from the respective control periods, years 1996 and 2003, when no stressful events affected the city. We found that exposed mothers gave birth to infants with statistically significantly lower birth weight (BW; mean difference = 86 g, 95% confidence interval = 67 to 104; F ((1, 3,349)) = 80.8, p < 0.001, eta (p) (2) = 0.024), when controlling for confounding effects of body length and head circumference. There was no specific relation between the trimester of stress exposure and BW in infants born in 1999. Neither increased frequency of preterm deliveries nor more complications of pregnancy and delivery were found in the given sample. Possible consequences of lower BW on psychosocial and somatic functioning should be evaluated through the lifetime.

[Parricide: psychiatric morbidity].

INTRODUCTION: Parricide is defined as a murder of parents by their children; the patricide is murder of father, while matricide is murder of mother. This entity is classified as homicide, but it differs in the fact that victims are parents and the killers are their children. Mostly, it is associated with psychiatric morbidity. OBJECTIVE: To describe sociodemographic and psychopathological characteristics of parricide committers and to analyze circumstances of parricide and psychiatric morbidity in order to achieve better recognition and prevention of risks. METHOD: This retrospective study included all homicide autopsy records (1991-2005) performed at the Institute of Forensic Medicine, Medical School, University of Belgrade. For further analyses, all parricide records were selected out. The study analyzed all available parameters, which concerned parricide committers, victims and the act itself. Methods of descriptive statistics were used. RESULTS: Between 1991 and 2005, there were 948 cases of homicide; of these, 3.5% were parricides. The committers of parricide were on average 31.2 +/- 11.9-years-old, 87.8% were males, 60.6% with psychiatric symptoms most commonly with schizophrenia, alcohol dependence, personality disorder etc. Victims were on average 63.7 +/- 11.9-years-old, 54.5% males, and 21.2% had a diagnosed mental illness. CONCLUSION: Parricide is a rare kind of homicide accounting for 3% of all homicides. Committers are mostly unemployed males in early adulthood who have mental disorder. The phenomenon of parricide deserves a detailed analysis of the committer (individual bio-psycho-social profile) and the environmental factors (family, closely related circumstances) to enable a precise prediction of the act and prevention of the fatal outcome, which logically imposes the need of further studies.